We were lucky enough to attend a talk by Nadia Bolz Weber last week at Grace Covenant Presbyterian. I have written about her before here, as I read her book Prastrix last month. It was great, she filled the book with moving stories about her life, that brought her to greater awareness. As a result of her personal experiences, she has some great ideas on progressive Christianity.
Her talk was interesting, and I especially enjoyed the Q&A at the end. It was during that time that she mentioned a guiding philosophy of her church in Denver - Anti-Excellence and Pro-Participation. It is not about doing everything perfectly. It is not about crossing every T and dotting every I. Nope, not at all actually. It is about showing up, doing your best, having an open heart, and getting into the spirit of things.
This really speaks to me, for many reasons. I hope that it is not only because I feel like it confirms my (already held) belief that details are over rated. Though, I am sure that is true to an extent. I think it is more that I am all about the spirit of things. It is not that I love messiness, but life is messy, and big messes are inevitable.
In the end though, I guess it speaks to me because I am messy. My hair is messy, my clothes have rips in them, and my classroom looks like a hurricane. I do not like new things, and I often approach things with wild abandon. So, I am not a person who spends lots of time trying to avoid messes. And when I do attempt to assert control over these things - I always realize that I am not in control.
But anti-excellence and pro-participation is NOT about settling for mediocrity. On the contrary, I argue that it is about setting your sights high, and going big - to the best of your ability. And damn the torpedoes that inevitably will come at you. Just show up, and surrender to the spirit of what you are doing. Clean up the mess when it is done. Or don't clean it up. Who cares? Just leave it all on the field, and rest easy with the knowledge that you gave it your all, messy or not.
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